Hilda O'Kirk
Born in Peatskirk to a family of moderately-skilled carpenters, Hilda was the youngest of seven children. She was an archer and ranked among the rest of the Road Garrison within the Nümerian Military. Hilda was taken as a marksman among smaller garrisons to help with keeping watch or tending to combat with ranged support. Appearance Condition As of the first encounter with the Moonbeast, she was brutally mauled and killed, and although her body was carried out she succumbed to her wounds and is deceased. Hilda is as fit as a conscript of a militia is expected to be. She's certainly not built or muscular at all, and for a variety of reasons: she's a woman, she prefers a bow and arrow, and she spends her days mostly in tending to the Nümerian Fort or various outposts. She's fit in the sense that she's healthy and able to carry out her tasks, with trekking through terrain with pounds of equipment in tow being the norm for her. However, she's used to wielding a bow with a fairly small draw weight, which results in faint muscles forming along her arms. Her face is lined with freckles, although she has severe scars on the right side of her face from bear claws when she was hunting such a beast with a small group. Her eyebrow and lip are also faintly cut from the encounter. Hilda's hair is usually kept in a braid and small, messy bun as she doesn't often get the chance to visit a barber, though her hair naturally doesn't grow too long to begin with. Her skin is rather pale compared to most of her fellow soldiers. Equipment Hilda dons the normal equipment that a conscript within the military would have. As an upgrade from peasant garments, she has padded gambeson garments and worn boots that help protect her against the elements. Plate greaves are fastened to her shins and knee guards are also protecting her legs. Along with leather gloves and a tunic bearing the Nümerian colors, she has a belt fastened to her waist with a utility dagger fastened to it. Recently, she's taken to wielding a basic club for some practical melee defense along with her recurve bow, which has a draw weight of about 35 lbs. She has a hip quiver carrying 15-20 arrows at a time. Biography Origins Hilda was born in the town of Peatskirk, which is a prominent lumber-producing town within that region of the peninsula. Bordering between the Kingdom of Elde-Nümeria and the new territory that'd come to be known as Yurlin, her family was situated between a Civil War of the once-whole nation. All good things come to an end, however, and that really hit many people hard. Her father, Dain, was a lumberjack and seasonal hunter, while her mother, Meryl, was a carpenter and had a hand in preparing lumber. The woman birthed seven children, one of whom died during infancy, and was by all means considered the traditional working man's wife. Hilda was the only daughter surviving with the other sons, who had all grown up through the Civil War. Childhood As a child, Hilda had grown to be fairly educated in the trade of woodworking and preparing wood. As an extra hand in carpentry, her specialty was more in carving and cutting wood to be smooth. Beams of wood, and finished products such as tables, benches, or chairs were helped to be produced by her family. Seasonally, her father would hunt in the nearby woodlands for game to sell or to be prepared, and as the years went on, her older siblings also learned to chop wood and take up the bow. Seeing as how her family was in such a low status, and how the population of their small village meant that she was less likely to be afforded any chance at a proper marriage and dowry at all, she was put to work. The War raged on until she was 12 years old, which took the life of her father and her eldest brothers - Joseph and Hayden. She'd continued working on the trade with her family as a handler of such crafts. Adolescence Eventually, she'd be made more useful through her teenage years as a working woman by tending to work after the loss of her father and brothers With the other members of the household, everyone learned to hone in their crafts and skill to work. With her mother becoming frail, she learned to take years to tending around the house, more and more. Through these menial years, she'd still help her brothers with the work when it came to fine-tuning certain things, such as prepping wood to be chopping, adding a finishing touch to reduce splinters, checking for cracks, and maintaining the tools. Up until she was 15 and suitable for a marrying age, she was taking care of their homestead until the sudden death of their mother. Meryl was by the riverbank, supposedly keeping an eye on flotsam and wood floating down the stream, but she fell in and drowned with her body washing up farther down the stream. It sparked some controversy among Peatskirk, with some saying she must have fallen in, but the nature of her death remained suspicious. It was true that if she got caught in the current, she'd have drowned and died, but Hilda was practically the woman of the household and she was brought into questioning by everyone. Fingers were pointed at her, even by her remaining brothers as they blamed her for killing her or negligence. Even worse were rumors of her being a witch and vexing her mother somehow, which got really ugly. Because of her somewhat masculine tendencies to actively hunt with a bow and be rowdy in comparison to the other working class people, she was forced out of her home village. She sought refuge immediately going to Fjelram, which was still part of the disputed territory closely watched between Nümeria and Yurlin. Seeing as how she posed no threat, she was allowed in but had a close watch kept on her. She spent her days in the church for a while due to being homeless, and while she was given kindness in sleeping on the pews and given food, she didn't like it there very much. It wasn't that she had anything against Lyster, but she hated being in that church with a convent, priests, and other beggars like her for longer than she needed to. Hilda was given word that because of her woodworking skills, she could potentially be given a job near a mill towards the Veneline Crossroads, just in front of the Nümerian fort that watched over the area. It took a few months, but she eventually set off with a small caravan headed farther inward into the Heartlands, and she made her way towards the road that housed a windmill and wheat fields. Working with the humbled woodworker and his establishment in front of the fort, she was taken in alongside his apprentice as a helping hand, just for room and board. It wasn't comparable to her home, but it was far better than sleeping within the church in Fjelram. The years went by as she honed in her woodworking skills again and continued to aid them in the same work she did before - prepping and finishing. Adulthood Over the next several years, Hilda would work under the old man and come to know Maverick, his apprentice some more. He was definitely a good craftsman who seemed to be a Jack of all Trades. As an artisan weaver, he could craft delicate statuettes and other pieces of art. As a maintenance worker, he could carve and modify wood that was damaged or try to replace certain parts, such as the leg of an ornate chair or maintaining a bow. Even as a carpenter, he was able to efficiently complete his task and make working furnishings. Hilda was surprised by how much she realized she couldn't do when it came to their work, but at the least they made use of her and didn't give her much trouble. The biggest surprise for her, however, was the fact that they didn't bat an eye when she went out to collect wood for them or even go on the occasional hunt in her spare time. Usually this would be seen as suspicious, but she had amounted a level of trust where her skill was actually praised to some extent. By the time she was 23, her days consisted of waking in the mornings, prepping a breakfast over the fire for them when they awoke, going out to hunt for some small game, coming back for breakfast, harvesting wood and other materials, and then coming back to do work and crafting commissioned goods whether by the fort or wanderers. Her days would end around sunset which gave her more free time until she decided to head to bed. However, it was on one of these hunts that she managed to shoot a rabbit not too far off. It wasn't a particularly impressive feat, but a few conscripts who were patrolling the road noticed her and beckoned her over. They asked her what she was doing, and in conversation she learned they mistook her for a man which irked her initially, but as for her skills in archery they were impressed. Even though most who held a bow could hunt to survive if their target was weak, not moving, and only a few feet away, they seemed to think of it as something to behold. She didn't realize it at the time, but because of the need for more archers keeping watch, they asked if she'd lend her skills to the large fort, which took some considering. However, when she learned of the meals and bed they'd be offered, as well as being given the same work at maintaining the fort most of the time, she decided it was probably something she could get used to doing. The next few years saw her as a conscript of the peasantry, where she worked and utilized the same skills she had always learned. With maintaining the fort came a myriad of tasks for woodworking, but thankfully she didn't have to use her tools to help the barber with amputees. After all, it was definitely a disgusting and chaotic thing in her eyes, and something she couldn't stomach. Besides helping to prep food, her tasks were mainly just inspecting the walls and other important wooden defenses, as well as helping to go out in parties to gather wood. She'd maintain her recurve bow and help with manufacturing the bodies of arrows and saw wood down into planks for interior use around the fort as floorboards. When she didn't lose her money in supplies and gambling, she'd eventually made it to affording a set of a conscript's armor, with a tabard, gambeson, and proper boots with greaves fitted for them. An ocular helmet was given to her since she was an archer, and she kept a small quiver dangling from her hip when she was going to hunt. She resided in the fort and went on patrols with nothing out of the ordinary, though it was mostly because she hadn't been in the heat of combat for too much compared to the more weathered veterans. That is, until a year of chaos and omens came about them. Current Events The Bear Hunt Near the Fort, the large trench that was dug up was said to house a monster or beast laying dormant until recently. Some of the traps that were left for food had been set off, but the captured rabbits or foxes were blooded and already eaten by what was assumed to be a scavenger. However, a scout said that far down the trench line, there were large tracks and traces of a clawed beast, more than likely a bear. How humorous that the crest of wolves belonging to the Houndhardts would now come face to face with an actual bear, which was the symbol of their enemy that shared a border with them - Yurlin. After a miniature tracking party was formed, Hilda was one of the few who'd embark to hunt for this creature. She followed them and kept behind them on top of elevated terrain to provide cover. Impressively, they managed to track the beast to its den and lure it out with fire kindling enough smoke. It reared itself out and she managed to shoot it once in the side, although its thick body and muscle were barely damaged by her arrow. While the men below attacked it with their polearms and even a swordsman charging at it, they managed to dodge horrid blows and gave the beast some grievous wounds, but the ledge that Hilda was standing atop gave way and she collapsed down to the same level as them. As the bear came up and noticed her, she managed to recover herself and take her bow in hand. She shot another arrow at it, but this one broke as it collided with the animal. Thankfully, her comrades all saved her and finished the bear off with some decisive blows while surrounding it, but it reared its large and formidable paw up and scratched Hilda's face, knocking her down in an instant. After being carried back to the fort along with the remains of the beast, a report was given although Hilda was bandaged and set to rest for a few days. She was really sore since her head got smacked and scarred on one side, but thankfully her eyes were fine. This event resulted in the scars that were laden on her face, known to those who were alongside her. However, in spite of those scars, this was where she first met a troupe of prominent members of the Nümerian militia, and she'd come to know them as trustworthy companions. The Investigation When a Bishop went missing after not hearing from his escort and carriage, a group was dispatched to Fjelram to find possible answers and locate him. Hilda travelled alongside with a prominent escort, and they all went North heading past the fort and closer to the River. After a bit of looking around, they found what appeared to be his carriage off the road and broken. It had been abandoned for a short amount of time, but it was certainly attacked; having been laden with arrows all coming from one side, emptied of any occupants and horses, and most importantly seemingly looted of some goods, but not necessarily any precious objects like coin.Category:Characters Category:Player Characters Category:Numerians Category:Numerian Army